Anais Fournier’s parents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Monster Beverage Corp. in California nearly a year after the 14-year-old went into cardiac arrest after drinking two 24-ounce cans of the drinks in December 2011. She was pronounced brain dead six days later.

Wendy Crossland and Richard Fournier, both of Hagerstown, allege the energy drinks contributed to Anais’ death, which was officially caused by “cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity complicating mitral valve regurgitation in the setting of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome,” according to her death certificate and court records.

Legal action

The lawsuit — with Goldberg, Finnegan & Mester LLC of Silver Spring, Md., and additional counsel with R. Rex Parris Law Firm in Lancaster, Calif., and Miles & Stockbridge P.C. in Baltimore — was filed through the Superior Court of California for the County of Riverside on Oct. 17.

It alleges Monster Energy has continued to conceal the exact amounts of caffeine contained in its drinks. It also alleges the company has failed to test its products for effects of the cardiovascular system, has purposely designed its product for teen and young adult consumers and has failed to alert consumers of the serious health risks the drinks can cause, especially if consumed by someone with an underlying heart condition.

The lawsuit is seeking “to recover all damages allowed by law for personal injuries suffered by their daughter prior to her death,” the complaint reads. “Additionally, the plaintiffs seek to recover all damages allowed by law as a result of the wrongful death of their daughter.”

“Monster, with their targeted marketing practices and promotion of energy drinks to teenagers, put profits over the safety of America’s youth,” said attorney Kevin Goldberg of Goldberg, Finnegan, and Mester. “Nothing can bring Anais back, but we can tell the world these energy drinks are harmful.”

The drinks and FDA

Crossland, who said she cannot comment on the lawsuit, previously said she was not filing the suit for the money, but wanted to alert national audiences of the dangers associated with the drinks and hopes they will be regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“I was shocked to learn the FDA can regulate caffeine in a can of soda, but not these huge energy drinks,” Crossland said in a news release from Goldberg. “With their bright colors and names like Monster, Rockstar, and Full Throttle, these drinks are targeting teenagers with no oversight or accountability. These drinks are death traps for young, developing girls and boys, like my daughter, Anais.

“Nothing will replace the love and vitality of Anais,” she continued. “I just want Monster Energy to know their product can kill.”

Page 2 of 2 - Crossland has been pushing for the regulation of all energy drinks like Monster to decrease the levels of caffeine and alert parents of the dangers. She has appeared on NBC’s "The Today Show" and CBS’s “Anderson Live” with Anderson Cooper. She has also lobbied for the regulation through various state and federal legislators.

A spokesman for Monster told The Baltimore Sun the company plans to fight the allegations, and does not believe the products were responsible for Anais’ death. The spokesman also said the company has never heard of anyone dying from their products, and the company does not wish to comment further because of the lawsuit.

Caffeine toxicity

Anais had drank a 24-ounce can of Monster at Valley Mall in Hagerstown the night of Dec. 16, 2011. On Dec. 17, 2011, she drank a second 24-ounce can of the energy drink at the mall. That night, she was watching a movie in her home with her boyfriend when she went into sudden cardiac arrest.

She was taken to Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown and later flown to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where doctors placed her in an induced coma to keep her brain from swelling.

Crossland said previously the family made the hardest decision of their lives six days later to take her off of life support after she never regained consciousness. She was pronounced brain dead on Dec. 23, 2011, and her organs were donated to help save others’ lives. Her name will be engraved on the donor wall at Hopkins next month.

Effects of caffeine

The lawsuit states the two cans of Monster contained 480-milligrams of caffeine — the equivalent of fourteen 12-ounce cans of soda. The lawsuit references several medical journal articles and studies that outline the adverse affects of consuming large amounts of caffeine.

One study in Pediatrics, a medical journal, says, “Caffeine can be lethal in doses ranging from 200 to 400 milligrams.”

The drinks also contain guarana, a plant extract that contains caffeine, and taurine, which has a similar effect on cardiac muscles.

“According to the Center for Food Safety Adverse Event Reporting System at the FDA, there have been six deaths and 15 hospitalizations reported associated with Monster Energy Drink since 2009,” Goldberg’s news release states. “According to a November, 2011 report by the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), there has been a tenfold increase in emergency department visits associated with energy drinks between 2004 and 2009, totaling more than 16,000 visits in 2008, and sales have increased 240 percent during the same period.”